The Settlers of Catan - New 4th Edition!!!!!

I bought the 3rd edition of Settlers and the expansion for our game group about a year ago. I recently purchased the new versions including Seafarers and Cities & Knights, excited about the artwork and frame pieces, but I was extremely disappointed.

Some changes:
1) The new SLAP YOU IN THE FACE blue water pieces' color do not match our original version. This makes it impossible to mix with our older games for our large groups.

2) The new "white" pieces are actually painted white now which I think is an improvement, but now they don't match earlier versions of the game.

3) The hexes are (incredibly) even flimsier than the 3rd edition. They are also coated with a very glossy surface coating that makes it hard to play with light coming in the windows.

4) The snap-together edges seem like an improvement, but since I have one of those awesome wooden boards from eBay, we don't use them.

5) The clay hexes, that used to be clearly red, are now so similar in color to the wheat hexes that it's harder to differentiate between them.

6) Gold, wheat, and even desert look very similar as well, but the cards' backgrounds haven't changed to help you match the resource with the card. With the exception of forest, the new hex artwork actually makes the game harder to play, imo.

Catan is still a fantastic game and our game groups' favorite. But I am so disappointed with the new version that I am very seriously considering selling my 4th edition to go back to the easier to play with older versions.

That's just a bit of humor. I have to be honest, I love this game. It is very fun, but it takes 1 game for people to truly understand how to play. I still consider it relatively easy to learn though. I like the game, but I have to admit - I feel the dice hate me! Actually, I got rid of the original dice because they were too light for my liking.
Anyway, this is a great game to play with a couple friends. I think if you add the expansion and take it to 5-6 players, it becomes a very fun game.
This edition with the framing seas (which I don't have) looks like a great addition...

An excellent board game that is surprisingly fun and competitive. The only downside is that the game maxes out at 4 people (unless you buy the expansion pack). A cross between Risk & Monopoly.

I got this game for my sister for her birthday. She loved it so much that she makes my parents play it at least every week and they hardly ever play games and they love it. Whenever I come home from college, we spend the weekend playing several games of Catan. I can't get enough of it!

I absolutely love this game, but being used to an (older) German version, I was very disappointed by the quality of the board tiles, which are made of thin cardboard (much sturdier in German version) and looked like they wouldn't make it through many game nights. Also, the game pieces for roads and towns were just little blocks of wood, while the pieces I am used to playing with actually look like roads in the country side and towns. The game is still great, of course, but it is obvious that they tried to produce it as cheaply as possible.